Email this article to a friend

The former co-head of European prime brokerage at UBS has become the latest equities alumnus from the Swiss bank to take up a senior role at high-frequency trader Getco, Financial News has learnt.

John Holland, a veteran UBS managing director who departed the bank in 2009, joined the board of Getco Europe earlier this month as a non-executive director, according to documents filed with Companies House.

A spokeswoman for Getco in Chicago confirmed the appointment. Holland did not respond to a LinkedIn request seeking comment.

Holland held a variety of senior roles in Asian and European equity markets during a 24-year career at the Swiss banking group. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was joint head of European prime broking at UBS until his departure in 2009. Prior to that, he served as chief operating officer of global cash equities, and before that head of European client execution services. He was previously UBS’s head of Asian equities.

Getco's chief executive, Daniel Coleman, was once global head of equities at UBS. He was promoted to chief executive in February this year, taking over from co-founders Daniel Tierney and Stephen Schuler.

Nick Ogurtsov, who joined Getco recently as global chief risk officer, was previously a senior buyside equities trader at UBS Global Asset Management. Michael Blum, another former senior UBS equities executive, was Getco’s global head of client services until he stepped down at the end of November.

Coleman has refocused the proprietary trading firm towards technology-driven client services since taking the helm, as well as overseeing a shake-up of senior management and the shedding of some 40 staff globally.

Earlier this month, Getco won a bidding war with rival high-frequency trading firm Virtu Financial to take control of US broker Knight Capital, in a $1.8bn deal that will see the privately-held Chicago firm become a publicly-traded company. The combined group would become one of the largest marketmakers on US equity exchanges.

Related

While at UBS, Holland was also a member of the European Commission’s European Securities Markets Expert group, an industry body set up to advise the EC on the application of directives governing the securities markets.